Nov 12, 2013

This simple savory stuffed acorn squash is easy to make and filled with the wonderful flavors of Fall. The stuffing is made with farro, chicken sausage, mushrooms, celery, onions and sage – you'll love this!

It doesn't get easier than this: simply halve and hollow out acorn
squash, then season with salt and roast in the oven. Nothing like
warming up the kitchen on a blistery night with baked squash in the
oven. While that bakes make the stuffing on the stove, then when the
squash is ready fill it with the stuffing and serve – the results are a
soft, flavorful squash filled with savory goodness!

In the Fall I love preparing squash, whether it’s butternut, pumpkin, spaghetti, or acorn and I’m always looking for great new ways to prepare it. I recently had a stuffed acorn squash at a restaurant that was pretty good, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking it would taste so much better with this farro stuffing, which I LOVE! This stuffing is an adaptation of this brown rice and sausage stuffing, which you could of course use instead of farro. I've also made it with barley and it was wonderful.

Farro is my favorite new grain – I love it's chewy, nutty texture which holds
up perfectly in this stuffing, but farro does contain gluten so if you want to make this gluten-free, swap it out for brown rice. This is perfect for a weeknight meal, but would also make a nice addition to your Thanksgiving table. Simply eat with a spoon to scoop out all the wonderful squash with the stuffing in every bite – enjoy!

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mist the cut side of squash with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in a baking dish and add 1/4 cup water to the bottom of the pan. Cover and bake 50 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool before serving.

Meanwhile, cook farro in chicken broth according to package directions.

While the farro is cooking, in a large saute pan cook chicken sausage on medium heat, breaking up the meat into small pieces as it cooks until the sausage is cooked through and is browned. Set aside on a dish.

Add olive oil to the pan and add the onion, sauté 1 minute, add the celery, salt and pepper to taste; cook until celery is soft, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and sage to the pan, more salt and pepper if needed and cook, stirring 5 minutes, then cook covered for 2 minutes, or until the mushrooms have released their juice and are cooked through. Return the cooled sausage and the cooked farro to the sauté pan and mix well.

Divide the farro stuffing evenly between the roasted acorn squash, garnish with parsley and serve.

Would you wrap and store the cooked squash and the stuffing separately, and then assemble and reheat the whole thing in the microwave? It's just me, and I'd like to adjust to make just two servings, with leftovers for the lunch the next day.

This looks SO good. I have acorn squash in my garage, I am thinking I will go to the store this weekend to get the ingredients to make that delicious looking stuffing. I have never had farro, but I am all about nutty, delicious grains so I think I will love it. I've also never had chicken sausage...I guess I need to live a little. Can't wait to try this. I LOVE your site.

These look so good they almost look fake! I'm going to veganize with veggie sausage, Field Roast has a few varieties that are all awesome. I think the Apple Sage would go great with this. I really like the quinoa suggestion in an earlier comment too, I'm a sucker for quinoa. Can't wait to try it!

This looks so delicious!! Do you think it would ruin the taste if I left out the mushrooms? I hate the texture of mushrooms so I try to leave them out whenever possible! PS - I love all your recipes - they're the only healthy ones my husband doesn't get nervous about when I tell him I'm making them for dinner! I made your butternut squash lasagna recipe recently and right after he ate it he told me he was really nervous about it but ended up really liking it!

Gina, another amazing recipe! You always get me to try new stuff (like quinoa...use it all the time now). I tried to find farro, but my grocery store didn't carry it. So, I sub'd brown rice. Also, it was the first time I had ever cooked acorn squash. Oh my...it was so yummy with the dressing. We will definitely be making this many more times. I have been following you for several years, and make your recipes regularly. Thank you and God bless!!

I am constantly looking at the blog for new recipes especially since now I am vegetarian and you sure know how to use your veggies in such a delicious manner. I am making this dish without the sausage for a pot luck next weekend. It's going to be a hit :)

If I made this for thanksgiving, and made the stuffing the morning of - should I 're-fresh' the stuffing with a little chicken broth? Any other suggestions to make it feel like it came right out of the kitchen?

There is NOTHING like roasted squash. It’s like God gave it to us with the intention to roast it and would have slapped us upside the head if we hadn’t figured that out. Because really, raw squash is pretty nasty.

I didn't read all the reviews, so this may already have been said...Freekeh is a low-gluten green wheat and could be used here. Similar to Farro and Barley, with a nutty chew. I have to acorns in the bin now, and all the other ingredients laying around too...just have to decide between the Farro, Freekeh or Barley! THanks!

I tweaked the recipe ever so slightly by substituting apple chicken sausage for the sweet italian. OMGoodness it is sooo yummy!! Thank you for all the wonderful recipes - I have tried so many and loved them all :)

I finally made this last night. It was delicious. My kids ate it and even my picky husband. Next time though I believe I will scoop the squash out and just mix it with the stuffing. The stuffed squash made a beautiful presentation, but unstuffed was easier to eat. :) Thank you for all your recipes!

I just made this and it was awesome, I didn't have any sage or parsley so I add about a cup of baby spinach at the end when you mix farro in with sautéed veggies and I added some grated parmesan cheese after that.